Guys,

Your Marines have the highest respect for the Navy's Hospital Corpsmen who serve with them in combat. Particularly when serving with infantry units, these non-combatants are constantly subjected to the same dangers as your Marines. When Marines are wounded, they willingly risk their own lives, as they respond without hesitation to the needs of their brothers on the battlefield. Though they wear a Navy insignia on their uniforms and are officially members of the U.S. Navy, they are considered to be Marines by the men they serve because their presence on the scene, and their quick action when their skills are needed can mean the difference between life and death to a wounded Marine. I don't know how many Corpsmen have been given awards for their unselfish actions over the years, but I suspect that most of these "angels under fire" never receive the proper public recognition for their quiet heroics.

One of those who was recognized was a fellow who was born on Staten Island, New York and was raised in New Jersey. He joined the Navy, became a hospital corpsman and was assigned to the Marine Corps during the Korean War. At the time of his valiant actions in support of Marines, on September 5, 1952, he was with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine (infantry) Regiment of the 1st Marine Division. Excerpts from his award citation read as follows:

"...When his company was subjected to heavy artillery and mortar barrages, followed by a determined assault during the hours of darkness, by an enemy force estimated at battalion strength, (Ed) resolutely moved from position to position in the face of intense hostile fire, treating the wounded and lending words of encouragement. Leaving the protection of his sheltered position to treat the wounded when the platoon area in which he was working was attacked from both the front and rear, he moved forward to an exposed ridge line, where he observed two Marines in a large crater. As he approached the two men to determine their condition, an enemy soldier threw two grenades into the crater while two other enemy charged the position. Picking up a grenade in each hand, (Ed) leapt out of the crater and hurled himself against the two on-rushing hostile soldiers, pushing the grenades against their chests and killing both the attackers. Mortally wounded while carrying out this heroic act, (Ed), by his great personal valor and resolute spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death, was directly responsible for saving the lives of his two comrades..."

The corpsman who gave his life for the two Marines during the North Korean battle known as "Bunker Hill," was Edward Clyde Benford, and he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on July 16, 1953. As his wife had remarried by that time, an Navy admiral officially presented the award to his 1-year-old son. Ed is buried in Beverly National Cemetery in New Jersey. (It was not the first time a member of Ed's family had sacrificed a life for our country. Ed's father had been a Merchant Marine during WWII and had died when his ship was torpedoed by a German submarine near the coast of Cuba in 1942.) In his honor, Ed had a destroyer named for him in 1996.

As Memorial Day approaches, please remember Ed Benford, but also pray for all our other Navy corpsmen who have looked after your Marines and continue to do so every time your Marines have to fight in a war. Thanks! - Your Bud

     Thank you so much, Billy!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Clyde_Benfold